e first gate, Don Quixote deliberated
within himself whether it would be best to engage on horseback or not,
and finally determined it should be on foot, as Rozinante might be
terrified at the sight of the lions. He therefore leaped from his horse,
flung aside his lance, braced on his shield, and drew his sword; and
marching slowly, with marvellous intrepidity and an undaunted heart, he
planted himself before the car, devoutly commending himself, first to
God and then to his mistress Dulcinea.

Here it is to be noted that the author of this faithful history, coming
to this passage, falls into exclamations, and cries out, O strenuous and
beyond all expression courageous Don Quixote de la Mancha! thou mirror
wherein all the valiant ones of the world may behold themselves, thou
second and new Don Manuel de Leon, who was the glory and honor of the
Spanish knights! With what words shall I relate this tremendous exploit?
By what arguments shall I render it credible to succeeding ages? or what
praises, though above all hyperboles hyperbolical, do not fit and become
thee? Thou, alone, on foot, intrepid and magnanimous, with a single
sword, and that none of the sharpest, with a shield not of the brightest
and most shining steel, standest waiting for and expecting two of the
fiercest lions that the forests of Africa ever bred. Let thy own deeds
praise thee, valorous Manchegan! for here I must leave off for want of
words whereby to enhance them. Here the author ends his exclamation, and
resumes the thread of the history, saying:--

The keeper, seeing Don Quixote fixed in his posture, and that he could
not avoid letting loose the male lion on pain of falling under the
displeasure of the angry and daring knight, set wide open the door of
the first cage, where lay the lion, which appeared to be of an
extraordinary bigness and of a hideous and frightful aspect. The first
thing he did was to turn himself round in the cage, reach out a paw, and
stretch himself at full length. Then he gaped and yawned very leisurely;
then licked the dust off his eyes, and washed his face, with some half a
yard of tongue. This done, he thrust his head out of the cage and stared
round on all sides with eyes of fire-coals,--a sight and aspect enough
to have struck terror into temerity itself. Don Quixote only observed
him with attention, wishing he would leap out from the car and grapple
with him, that he might tear him in pieces, to such a pitch of
extrav